State shuts down Wassaic campus for the disabled

N.Y. had vowed to shut Wassaic, other institutions

Jan. 3, 2014

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Poughkeepsie Journal

AMENIA — The state’s facility, which housed people with developmental disabilities for decades in this rural eastern Dutchess County hamlet, is closed.

The New York Office for People with Developmental Disabilities confirmed Thursday the Wassaic campus of the Taconic Developmental Disabilities Services Office was shut down Tuesday.

Seventy-six developmentally disabled residents were transitioned into the community during 2013 and employees were offered new jobs, according to OPWDD spokeswoman Denise Decarlo.

Ceasing operations at the Wassaic campus is part of a larger statewide plan to close institutional facilities.

In October 2011, state officials announced they would close the 371-acre campus at the end of 2013. It sits on a hilltop in the lush, picturesque hills of eastern Dutchess County, and serves a five-county region.

Residents who lived there have been moved into community settings, including group homes.

“Careful planning for each person included their choices, with input from their family and/or advocates, Taconic staff familiar with their needs, and the new staff members who are now rendering them care,” Decarlo said.

The state said in 2011 the 518 employees at the campus would be offered reassignments in other OPWDD service areas. Decarlo said Thursday that some of those employees have also been put on “preferred hiring lists” for other state agencies.

One union spokesman said many of the job relocations are in Tupper Lake or New York City and aren’t feasible for everyone who worked there.

Stephen Madarasz, director of communications for the Civil Service Employees Association, said, “We’re continuing to advocate with the agency for placing the remaining staff who are at risk, within a reasonable geographic proximity of their current work location.”

He couldn’t say how many of them remain unplaced.

Earlier this week, OPWDD told the Democrat and Chronicle it closed residential centers at a Developmental Disabilities Services Office in Rochester that served the Finger Lakes region.

Other state development centers, including in Broome and Schenectady counties as well as Brooklyn and Queens are expected to close within the next three years.